blog Here at Delimiter we’ve been tracking the NSW Department of Education and Communities’ long-running Learning Management and Business Reform project for quite a few years already. And the project just keeps on going from bad to worse, by all appearances.

The project is based on software from German giant SAP and aims to replace finance, HR, payroll and student administration systems across the public education sector. It was initially kicked off in 2006 and aimed to replace the systems at schools, TAFE institutions and the Department of Education and Communities’ head and branch offices throughout the succeeding seven years through to the middle of 2013.

However, in April 2014 the Greens claimed to have obtained documents was creating “appalling consequences for administrative staff, principals, teachers and students”, and in late August this year things took a sudden turn south. The Sydney Morning Herald published a story based on comments made in the NSW Budget Estimates process, where claims that the project is now a “complete disaster” are being aired again.

Speaking to budget estimates, department secretary Michelle Bruniges said “There were indeed computer compatibility issues that we found in both operating systems and printers.”

Looking back over the history of this project, I really find it hard to believe that things have gotten to this point. The NSW Department has had almost a decade — a decade, which might as well be 100 years, in the fast-moving IT industry — to deploy this system.

All along that way, the department has been warned of continuing issues with the project — issues which, no doubt, stem from basic governance issues, which they almost always do in major state government IT projects.

And yet the NSW State Government continues to make excuses for the LMBR project, throwing bags of money continuously at it, and laughably refusing to confirm at the moment how much more will be put into the machine which has already consumed up to $500 million worth of taxpayers’ money — for an ERP system.

Will it be another $100 million? Another $500 million? Right now, the state’s Education Minister is unable to confirm the amount — and has even made the laughable claim that the previous Labor administration did not budget for “implementation” in the project’s original cost.

Generally, issues with project’s like these are to do with flawed, or missing, project methodologies. The grunts on the ground probably are experienced and knowledgeable, but if you don’t have a good project management team keeping an eye on the big picture, the whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket…

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